Advertisement:

People have trouble admitting to unpleasant things, even when the proof is right in front of their face. Whatever the situation, and for whatever reason, they will adamantly refuse to admit a situation is what it is.

It could be being caught red-handed in a theft (even if caught clearly on the security cameras). It could be losing a battle (not that the losing side might make a comeback; this would be denying that one was even at a disadvantage at all). It could be one's lie proven false. It could be caught cheating. This person will deny all of them despite the most blatant and clear evidence, through Blatant Lies and/or Insane Troll Logic, perhaps hoping to bluster through by sheer brazenness.

As for why, this person may be delusional, desperate, playing coy, or would rather swallow poison than pride. Or someone might be forced to by another, for whatever reason (often politics or blackmail).

Advertisement:

Sometimes this can be a whole group of people denying something due to fear of change.

Advertisement:

A Starburst commercial features Ernie the Klepto. Ernie claims to have reformed from his thieving ways. A kid points out that Ernie stole his Starbursts. Ernie replies, "No, I didn't," while actually eating the candy. The kid accepts Ernie's denial, while Ernie steals the kid's helmet, his bike, his Starburst, his dog, and his shirt.

In the first of Troy Polamalu's Head and Shoulders commercials, one of his teammates asks if he's been using his shampoo, because it's for guys who want "thicker and fuller hair"; Troy's already impressive mane gets thicker and fuller each time the camera cuts to him when he denies it, until he sheepishly admits the obvious.

A follow-up commercial has Troy asking his teammates who took his shampoo, one of whom has a beard as big as Troy's hair. The bearded one says it was the guy next to him, who is bald.

The in-commercial version of Geico claims they didn't know the cavemen were still around, even though the original commercial had the one offended be part of the film crew.

The pirate captain in the parrot commercial swears up-and-down that he never said any of the mean things about his crew that the parrot is saying, even though it's fairly obvious the parrot got it from him.

Anime & Manga

Full Metal Panic!: No, Kaname, Sousuke is not following you. He decided to stop at the same cafe, take the same train and - when accidentally missing his stop that he just now decided to get off on (which is, coincidentally, the same as yours) - jump out the window of a moving train for entirely non Kaname-related reasons. Really, it's entirely coincidence!

In a more serious example, Light Yagami of Death Note after irrefutable evidence to his being Kira was presented, his first answer was "I've been framed! This is all a set-up!". Aizawa told him to give up the act. Understandably, given that this evidence consisted of Light shouting "I win!", and his name being the only one of the people besides Mikami's not being in the notebook.

In the case of School Days, Kotonoha Katsura denies that she's been wronged, and frequently tells people that she's Makoto's girlfriend and that he wouldn't cheat on her. After he tells her in person that he doesn't like her any more, it goes from implausible deniability to psychosis. She leaves several voice messages for him to a recording saying her call could not be connected, detailing plans for their dates together. In the end she says "Finally... It's just the two of us..." as she clutches his severed head as she sails off into the sunset, although partially she is speaking the truth.

In Nagasarete Airantou, Ikuto refuses to believe in magic, no matter what he has seen. He assumes summoned spirits are just "creatures". One chapter has him partially transformed into an animal, which doesn't wipe his memory (unlike everyone who was fully transformed). Despite seeing friends look completely different and the changes to his own body, when he finally recovers, he believes it was just a dream. (Pitying friends try not to remind him of this.)

It is later explained in the manga that Ikuto was put under a magic spell to keep him from believing in mystical creatures by his sister who is half snow fairy.

Japan is seen at the end of a strip (Frequency), in bed, naked, with Greece lying next to him. He's trying to deny that they had sex, ("I'm so glad that "it was All Just a Dream"!"), but the fact that Greece is also naked makes that sound like Blatant Lies.

In another strip, a young Romano blames his chronic bedwetting on a rogue squirrel.

Karin of Bleach has the ability to see ghosts, but doesn't believe in them. When Yuzu points this out, Karin casually states she's in permanent denial.

In the Fullmetal Alchemist manga Basque Grand shot his racist General Ripper superior at point-blank range to stop him killing the surrendering Ishbalan leader. The surrounding Amestrians calmly note it must have been a stray bullet.

Towards the end of Anatolia Story, Queen Nakia bluntly refuses to acknowledge the charges of treason brought against her, despite the fact that the heroes have gathered damning physical evidence (such as state secrets sent to the Egyptian royal family with her personal seal), or the testimony of her own son, who she'd drugged as part of an attempt to frame the murder of the last emperor on the female lead. Having spent the rest of the series basically untouchable due to her skills at political manipulation, it's the first sign of her encroaching Villainous Breakdown from being backed into a corner.

Comedy

One Adam Sandler sketch has his character, a radio host, asking random people on the street to guess if the sounds he plays for them are made by people having sex or working out. He'll then play a recording of an over-the-top porn soundtrack, with people saying things like, "You're fucking the shit out of me!" When the person tells him they were having sex, he'll respond with something like, "Nope, they were doing leg squats!" then mock them for having dirty minds. (The punchline in the skit is, all the people he asks initially are men; the last person he asks is a woman, whom he then has sex with, records the act, and when he plays it back she says, "That was you having sex with me." He agrees with her, then produces his findings: that women have less dirty minds than men.)

In one of Bill Cosby's routines, he tells a story illustrating why "Children are so honest" is bullshit. He tells his toddler daughter she can't have a cookie, then catches her with her hand in the cookie jar. When he asks her what she's doing, she says, "I was getting a cookie for you, Daddy!"

Cosby:(as himself) I don't want a cookie! Cosby:(as his daughter) Well then, can I have it?!

Chris Rock has a bit about the hypocrisy of women in clubs dancing to songs that are sexist, and that if you point it out to them, they'll go to impossible lengths to justify it. Pointing out the artist's use of words like "bitch" or "ho" elicits the response "He ain't talkin' bout me!" He continues saying that even if it were bizarrely specific, they'd still deny it:

"He just said your name." "...No he didn't!" (continues dancing)

Comic Books

Oliver Queen's attempt to deny being Green Arrow to Mia despite being a blond guy with an identical beard who sounds exactly like Green Arrow. Maybe running for mayor and trying to keep a Secret Identity in the same town was a mistake.

Along the same lines, Power Girl tried to maintain a secret identity as owner/president of a small cutting-edge tech firm in her 2010-2011 series. Unfortunately for her, that's a pretty highly visible profession, and there just weren't enough twenty-year-old, six-foot-two blondes (aside from, well... you know) in the public eye for her to maintain it for very long.

It worked a lot better in her New 52 series, since she operated as Power Girl largely under the radar and across the globe, rather than publicly acting as a hero in one location.

Fairy Tales

The Grimm Brothers' story "Our Lady's Child" (sometimes called "The Virgin Mary's Child" or "Fairy Tell-True") is built around this trope. The titular child, a foster-daughter of the Virgin Mary, denies disobeying Our Lady six times in total, even though it's clear that Mary had caught the child red-handed (or rather, gold-handed).

The Doctor: You must be mistaken, Leftenant. The lady and I were just out for a stroll. You must have mistaken us for someone else. Security Mook: Then how do you explain the blood all over you? The Doctor:Um...I got mugged? Really, you should do something about that, streets aren't even safe... You're not buying that for a minute, are you? Security Mook: Not so much.

In thisCrosses the Line Twice piece of Axis Powers Hetalia fanart, Germany calls Japan to ask that he stop committing war crimes while Germany's trying to do business with China. Japan denies that he's doing anything of the sort, whereupon Germany points out that he can see him just out the window with assorted corpses.

Raven: And what, exactly, is your purpose here? Well? Jinx:(with bags of stolen jewelry in hand) I? I was just taking a midnight stroll. And what are you doing here, Ms. Titan, hmm? Raven: And the bags, Ms. Thief? Jinx: Well, how else would I window shop? Raven:(while laughing) I do not believe that is how that particular practice is performed. Jinx: Fine, just cuff me and let's go. (Raven teleports the bags several feet away)Raven: I see no evidence of any crime, so I suppose I will have to accept that you are, indeed, partaking in an innocuous walk. I would advise you, however, that your record is against you and grounds for suspicion. I really should escort you to your residence. However, I am now 'off-duty', so I trust you can make your own way home.

In Broken Facades Misa discovers her best friend Light is Kira after she makes the eye deal so to her he might as well have a neon sign on his head. Light however has no idea just how futile his denials are:

Misa: Kira. Light: What about him? Do you want stats or something? Misa: You're Kira. I can't believe it. Light: Don't be ridiculous Misa. Whatever are you on about? Misa: You're Kira because this notebook fell on the Earth for you as well.

In By Royal Command, Trixie refuses to accept that Twilight Sparkle is now a princess. Even though a profiling analysis of the incredibly lewd letter (with illegible signature) that kicks off the plot reveals roughly half a dozen clues marking her as the writer. And Equestria's other three princesses each confirm that they didn't write it. And Celestia insists on bringing Trixie to Ponyville to settle the issue. And Pinkie Pie says "Twilight became a princess". Even when Trixie sees Twilight's new appearance, wings and all, she's holding on to the hope that it might all be a crazy dream.

In Saki After Story, Teru keeps denying that Saki is her sister, even to Sumire, who has proof from both of Teru's parents that they're sisters. Eventually, however, Sumire gets through to Teru, but not before Teru has viciously beaten up Saki, leading to a My God, What Have I Done? moment before Teru is arrested.

In Boys und Sensha-do!, an injured Miho claims she can manage with everyday tasks by herself. It merely takes Akio lightly poking her in the ribs, causing her to grimace in pain, to show that she can't.

In the RWBY fic It Ends With A Dance, team JNPR is playing a Risk expy. Nora, in an attempt to keep Ren from quitting, claims that she will forgive his 'treachery' in waging war with her kingdom. Ren tries to point out that Nora attacked his kingdom first, but she doesn't listen.

Shatterheart, Kurogane and Fai confront Syaoran's kidnapper who immediately denies his involvement. Even though he is literally standing over Syaoran's injured body and about to pour bleach in the boy's eyes.

Several Buffy the Vampire Slayer stories have someone (usually from outside Sunnydale) point out that if the claims of "Gang members on PCP" were true, Sunnydale would not only be the PCP capital of the world, they'd have more gang violence per capita most other cities in the United States combined.

In Walking in the Shadows, Xander tries to play off the vampires behind the club he works at as being "really big rats" to the new girl (who's later revealed to be Tara). When she points out the blood on his neck, ash on his shirt, and new leather jacket, he makes up increasingly ridiculous claims, eventually claiming they're "really, really big, high jumping rats who smoke and have bad fashion sense."

When Pacifica runs away from her parents in Anywhere but Home, she ends up at the Mystery Shack with Stan wanting to know why she was traveling through the forest. She claims she was on her way to see Dipper.

At the end of An American Tail, when Warren T. Rat's disguise is shot off and it becomes obvious he's a cat, he still tries to maintain the charade, with the line "Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" They got that line from Chico Marx as seen in the page quote.

In Hoodwinked, Red comes across Japeth, a goat who claims he can only sing everything he says:

Red Puckett: Could you stop singing for one moment? Japeth the Goat:[singing] No I can't, wish I could, but a mountain witch done put a spell on me, 37 years agoooooooo, and now I gotta sing every thing I saaaaaaaaayyyyyy... Red Puckett: Everything? Japeth the Goat:[speaks] That's right. Red Puckett: You just talked! Just now! Japeth the Goat: Oh, did I? [singing] Did I? Dididididodadidididoooo...

Cogsworth: Enchanted? Who said anything about the castle being enchanted? (laughs weakly, then in an angry whisper to Lumiere) It was you, wasn't it? (they start to scuffle) Belle: (watching a talking clock and a talking candelabrum wrestle each other) ...I figured it out for myself.

In Frozen Fever, when Elsa catches Olaf taking a bite out of Anna's birthday cake:

Elsa: Olaf, what are you doing? Olaf:[talking through a mouthful of cake] I'm not eating cake.

In Maya the Bee: The Movie, this is combined with Never My Fault. Maya insists that Buzzlina is hiding the royal jelly under her crown, but nobody believes her. Then, Buzzlina's crown gets knocked off, with the vial of jelly inside it, and when it lands on the ground, one of the bees goes to pick it up, which reveals the jelly to the shocked crowd.

The man who insists that the loudly protesting "corpse" he's trying to offload onto the body collector is, in fact, quite dead.

Echoed later by the King of Swamp Castle and the father of the bride in the scene with Sir Launcelot and Prince Herbert.

In the film The Guide for the Married Man, the main character's friend teaches him all the tricks of cheating, including denying it even if the wife walks in. However, when the friend is caught, all his teachings fail him.

In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Austin collects his personal effects from a clerk. When the clerk produces a Swedish-made penis enlarger, Austin denies it being his. The clerk then proceeds to hand him his credit card receipt for the purchase of the Swedish-made penis enlarger, signed by Austin Powers. And a warranty card for a Swedish-made penis enlarger pump, filled out by Austin Powers. All of this prompts a "I don't even know what this is. This sort of thing isn't my bag, baby!", which naturally segues into the final article of his personal effects - a copy of the bookSwedish-Made Penis Enlarger Pumps and Me (This Sort of Thing Is My Bag, Baby)... by Austin Powers.

In Cabin Fever, Marcy blames Paul, her recent sex partner, for making sore red marks on her back during their coital frenzy, when she knows full well that skin sores are a symptom of the disease going around. She even seems to suspect what they truly are when she first discovers them. Especially galling when you remember that she had just infected him with the disease by sleeping with him, and once again, was probably perfectly aware of this.

In Shattered Glass, Stephen Glass's fabricated articles fall apart with just the tiniest bit of scrutiny. The conference hall where he says he attended a conference on a Sunday isn't open on Sundays, and well below the capacity it would have needed to hold the conference besides. The restaurant where he claims his interviewees had dinner is only open during lunch. Even after these revelations he maintains his story.

In Star Wars: A New Hope, Leia insists that she is on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan, a fact which even when the film was released in 1977 seemed to be difficult to believe. When Rogue One came out we discover this trope was in full play, since the ship had escaped a battle, and just barely avoided being boarded by Vader a few hours earlier.

Played for laughs in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. When Sparrow first sees Barbossa, he assumes he's hallucinating. Barbossa mentions that, last time they met, Sparrow shot him. Sparrow just looks at him for a moment, says, "No I didn't." and keeps walking.

In the 1997 Harland Williams comedy RocketMan, astronaut Fred Randall's oxygen tank springs a leak, so he is connected to his superior via a breathing hose, in order that they might share air on the surface of the planet Mars. Randall then has an... ahem, "attack of indigestion", the effects of which cross over to Commander Overbeck's suit, prompting the above memorable exchange (which is no doubt familiar to most people from Real Life). Randall finally relents and admits to it, but not for long:

Fred Randall:It wasn't me!Bill Overbeck: What do you mean, it wasn't you? We're 35 million miles from the nearest person!Fred Randall: Maybe it was Julie! [Julie, for the record, is miles away, on a different part of the planet's surface] Bill Overbeck: You dog! Fred Randall: Hey, miracles can happen! Bill Overbeck: Blaming this on Julie... Fred Randall: Okay, I admit it, it was me. Bill Overbeck: Thank you. [Fred has more "indigestion"] Fred Randall: Now that was Julie!

In Role Models there is a funny minor scene with the lawyer Beth defending a thief. He's taped on security camera (identifying himself by name and admitting that he is currently committing theft) and he still insists he didn't do it.

Close to the end of In the Loop,Malcolm Tucker discovers that Toby (Simon Foster's assistant) was the one leaking information to the press, and confronts him; Toby makes a rather half-hearted attempt at denying it...

Malcolm: I know it was you who leaked Linton's war committee. Toby:Oh... right... erm, it wasn't? Malcolm: "It wasn't?" That's what you're gonna say when they come and slip a hood over your head and fly you to Diego Garcia and carry out a cavity search?Toby: I don't actually recall... it was a very busy time... Malcolm: That's better.

In Billy Rose's Jumbo, a 1962 musical comedy set in a circus, Jimmy Durante plays an elephant trainer who tries to sneak his beloved elephant off the circus grounds and is caught red-handed.

Sheriff: Where are you going with that elephant? Durante:(standing in front of the elephant) Elephant? What elephant?

Subverted in Amityville: The Evil Escapes. The evil, possessed lamp (yes, really) makes the chainsaw turn on and flail around randomly while the son is holding it and covers the daughter's room in crayon graffiti, but while the mother doesn't believe an evil spirit is behind it yet, she still denies the logical explanation that the kids did it.

Played for Drama in the Tom Cruise film Valkyrie. His character keeps saying that Hitler is dead, which is the only way operation Valkyrie will fly. This becomes more implausible as evidence keeps piling up, up to and including Hitler himself speaking on the radio.

There is an independent short film called Eating Out where a man and woman spot a lesbian couple in a bar and have an argument over whether or not they are lesbians. The woman believes they are and the man stubbornly hangs on to his belief that they're not, even when he sees them making out, because "they don't dress like lesbians" and "a lesbian couple can't both be femmes."

Subverted in The Shawshank Redemption. Andy's defense is that, on the night that he found out his wife was cheating on him, he got drunk, loaded his gun, drove to the house of his wife's lover (leaving tire tracks and fibers at the scene)... then thought better of it and threw the gun in the river. Then, on the same night, someone else broke into the house and killed them both, using the same caliber gun that he had. Turns out that he was telling the truth, but the jury naturally doesn't buy it.

In Duck Soup, Sylvanian spies Chicolini and Pinky are snooping around, both disguised as President Firefly. They're not very good at it.

Mrs. Teasdale: Your Excellency, I thought you'd left! Chicolini: Oh no, I no leave. Mrs. Teasdale: But I saw you with my own eyes! Chicolini: Well, who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?

During Maya Fey's trial, Redd White insists that just because Phoenix had placed him in Mia's office at the exact time as her murder and saw the whole thing, there was no evidence at all that he actually committed the killing. No one in the gallery believes it, but the Judge does have to concede that it's true. Fortunately, he still declares Maya Not Guilty.

Near the end of the movie, Manfred von Karma was proven to have been right outside the Evidence Room, at the exact time Gregory Edgeworth was murdered. Von Karma insists that without a motive, there's no support at all for the claim that he had anything to do with the crime. Fortunately Phoenix does find a motive, and von Karma is convicted.

Almost Famous: Penny and the other groupies claim they aren't groupies, just fans of the band, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Erik the Viking: The island of Hy-Brasil is sinking, and the people of the island insist that it is not. The king continues his denial even as the waters rise over his head and reduce his speech to bubbles.

Jackass Number Two: In one skit, Dunn is about to be launched out of a garage and into a dumpster in a shopping cart, but Bam instead closes the door, causing Dunn to get slammed into it at high speed. Even though everyone saw him close the door, Bam adamantly insists that he didn't do it.

Deadpool: The main character denies having anything to do with a dead guy, who falls from an overpass sign at the site of the bloodbath Deadpool just finished causing.

Deadpool: That guy was up there when I got here.

Denial: Irving claims he's not racist even as his own diaries and recorded speeches show him saying blatantly racist things.

Man: Doctor, you've got to help me. I think I am actually dead! Shrink: Come on, it should be obvious that's impossible. Man: No, really, I'm positive I'm dead. Shrink: I see. A question: Do you think that dead people can bleed? Man: No, they can't. (Shrink pricks man with a needle, causing him to bleed)Shrink: And, do you still think you are right? Man: No, doctor, I was wrong: Dead people can bleed!

Ross: IT'S NOT ME! IT'S NOT ME! Smiffy: Why did you start shooting at us, then? Ross:Honestly, it's not me!There's someone behind you!RUUUN!Smiffy: Nah, it's Ross. (Ross kills Trott, and then shouts over the chatter from the others)Ross: It's not me! Smiffy: You were fucking shooting at us! Ross:No, it's not me!(Ross and Smiffy run into each other, and Ross starts shooting at him, continuing to deny that he is responsible all the while. Observing the antics from beyond the grave, Sips is degenerating into helpless laughter)Smiffy: FUCK OFF! (Smiffy goes on to win the round anyway, bringing up the "Innocents Win" message)Turps: You RDMing son of a bitch, he said it wasn't him! Ross: It wasn't me!

When playing Garry's Mod Murder with the rest of the Yogscast, In The Little Wood, due to his being new to the game mode, gives away the fact that he's the murderer by mentioning he can see footprints. His attempts to backpedal do not work at all, with his claiming that he can't be the murderer twice in a row (which is less likely but has happened to many players before) and that he was talking about last round.

During this episode of Sips' Garry's Mod Murder, Sips finds that he is the murderer and finally bumps into Hat Films' Smiffy, saying that he is innocent. This doesn't work, because Sips' evil presence is showing. Much like Ross, he continues to deny it over and over again, with the same results. He eventually gives up when he gets his knife back.

True to form, on Lewis Brindley and Simon Lane's fourth series of TTT note hosted on their channel, though Simon was missing from series 4, Ross does itagain, shooting Sips, Duncan Jones (after telling them "poop into mouth", a euphemism for the "Eat Shit" meme that Ross started) and then Lewis. After the alarm is raised due to Ross missing, he continues to deny it, again while firing on the innocents.

Ross:(after having killed Duncan)Poop into mouth. (Ross then wanders out, as Lewis enters to discover there's blood everywhere)Lewis: Ross? (promptly gets shot at) Ross is shooting at me! Ross:No I'm not! I'm not trying to make you eat shit at all! (keeps firing)Lewis: It's definitely Ross, he's shooting me! Ross: It's not me! It's not me! It's not me! Who is it? (this sort of exchange goes on for another couple of seconds)Lewis: It's Ross! Ross: It's not me! Lewis:It really is!He eventually admits it after the round ends and he and Hannah Rutherford emerge victorious.

This happens to the Yogscast in Garry's Modagain, when Smiffy gets trapped in a cupboard, admits to Trott that he's the murderer, then freaks out when Sjin comes in with the gun and tries framing Trott, despite the fact that Smiffy's evil presence is showing.

Jon: There's a law with you: there's like three or four things you always reference. And by default I assume horses.

Literature

In the Matthew Swift series, Matthew's one-time mentor Robert Bakker refuses to acknowledge that his shadow comes alive and not only killed Matthew before the series began, has been hunting down Matthew and the angels since he came back from the dead— even after being presented with evidence and directly confronted.

Carcer in Night Watch would deny he had done anything, even if caught (literally) red-handed.

Trolls also tend to repeat "I never done nuffin" (they have learned that denying specific things doesn't work as well) when they suspect they may be in trouble. Coalface is quite emphatic in this regard.

Detritus is the king of this. No of course he didn't nail that troll up by the ears for being the kind of scumbag that sells drugs to kids. Now, if you'll excuse him, he needs to go hide that hammer in his locker.

In Unseen Academicals, the giant ever-burning candle known as the Emperor did not go out. Smeems says so, and is quick to correct Nutt when his assistant's vision shamelessly deceives him to make him believe it did. Smeems does at least trust Nutt enough to confide that this makes the third time the Emperor has "not gone out" in his long tenure as Keeper of the Candles.

In Jingo Vetinari denies that he can speak Klatchian right after he's translated everything the Klatchians on the ship are saying. Since he's talking to Colon and Nobby, it works. (He also later claims to not be able to juggle or do street magic after performing a masterful piece of street theatre, though he also claims that merely managing Ankh-Morpork is more of a balancing act than any juggling.)

This is the stance the wizards are taking on the events of Sourcery; namely, each wizard is insisting that while the other wizards were causing The End of the World as We Know It, he was holed up in his room, studying, while humming very loudly. Or were out of town visiting relatives living in a country that wasn't destroyed in the chaos. So far, the only wizard not to do this is Mustrum Ridcully, who really was visiting relatives at the time.

Robert Zubrin's The Holy Land. The President and his advocates do this all the time; none of the significant characters actually BELIEVE them, but plenty of them find accepting the lie more profitable and useful than calling them on it. Back to that first entry under Truth in Television, below...

Natalia in The Tiger's Wife refuses point-blank to admit that she knew in advance that her grandfather was terminally ill, even though her grandmother knows perfectly well that Natalia knew, and is begging her to admit it.

There is a story told about the possibly fictional, possibly real Mulla Nasreddin (the Muslim World's trickster archetype):

A neighbour came to the gate of Mulla Nasreddin's yard. The Mulla went to meet him outside. "Would you mind, Mulla," the neighbour asked, "lending me your donkey today? I have some goods to transport to the next town." Having heard that that particular man was occasionally rather harsh with his own donkeys, the Mulla didn't feel inclined to lend out the animal to that him, however. So, not to seem rude, he answered: "I'm sorry, but I've already lent him to somebody else." All of a sudden the donkey could be heard braying loudly behind the wall of the yard. "But Mulla," the neighbour exclaimed. "I can hear it behind that wall!" "Who do you believe," the Mulla replied indignantly. "The donkey or your Mulla?"

Actually, it's Older Than They Think. Philogelos, a joke collection from the 4th century AD (and the first joke collection to survive) has a variant that a guy knocks at another man's door, asking for him. The man says "I'm not in". The first guy says "You're lying, I recognize your voice". The man answers, "Idiot. If it had been my slave who answered, you would have believed him. Don't you think I'm more credible than my slave?"

The Freys verge on this crossed with Insane Troll Logic in A Song of Ice and Fire after their Moral Event Horizon; No, no! Robb Stark and all his retainers weren't led into a trap and savagely murdered while protected by guest right! At all! Robb really turned into a werewolf! A very big one! And, then started murdering HIS OWN BANNERMEN and the Freys he'd come to make amends with simply For the Evulz! No, really: wargs, ammirite? A few characters suspect that, since everyone already knows what really happened, they're doing it this way just to dare someone to disagree. So, they warrent at least a couple of style points for the scale of the attempted over-the-top-lies, then... despite the shoddy execution? General opinion is a resounding no on that.

In Robert Arthur's short story "Obstinate Uncle Otis", the main character is described as having "a lack of faith that can un-move [mountains]", including denying that a barn obstructing his view exists... and it instantly doesn't.

In Dave Barry Slept Here, the mystery of the missing oil in the Teapot Dome Scandal is solved when Albert Fall is caught trying to board an ocean liner with a suitcase filled with 3.256 trillion barrels of petroleum products. Fall claimed that this was a "gift" from a "friend."

In Dragon Bones, there is a variant where a relative of the murder victim does this, apparently to not have to accuse a high-ranking person of murder: "He clearly stumbled and slit his own throat on a rose thorn in that hedge there. A tragic accident." Everyone knows who is to blame, of course, but the fact that he doesn't outright accuse the murderer enables everyone to save face.

Dodged in Wolf Hall when Francis Weston relates a funny story about how Thomas Cromwell got Thomas More convicted of treason: by locking the jury into a room and saying they couldn't have supper until they gave him a guilty verdict. Cromwell's son and ward don't appreciate Weston cheeking him, but Cromwell doesn't say anything to contradict it and is happy the conversation moves on because that's close enough to what he actually did.

Happens all the time in Nineteen Eighty-Four as the Party simply claims that since it can control records and memory, it can control anything that has happened. If everyone believes that something did or did not happen, than by all means it did or did not happen.

In Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Greg mentions that a kid named Aric Holbert got suspended for breaking into the school and spray painting "Aric Holbert is cool" on the lockers. He tried to deny it was him, but as Greg points out, "it was pretty pointless".

Family Skeleton Mysteries: Georgia's older sister Deborah begins ignoring Sid around the time she graduated high school, after deciding his existence was impossible and therefore not worth acknowledging. Despite the fact that he's lived with their family for eight or nine years by that point. She begins to acknowledge him again after he saves Georgia's life near the end of book 1.

Also from the same episode is Blackadder's description of his lawyer's most famous case. "I remember Massingbird's most famous case, the case of the bloody knife. A man was found next to a murdered body, he had the knife in his hand, thirteen witnesses that seen him stab the victim, when the police arrived he said, "I'm glad I killed the bastard." Massingbird not only got him off, but he got him knighted in the New Year's Honors list, and the relatives of the victim had to pay to have the blood washed out of his jacket."

The Doctor Who episode "Cold War" has one moment when the Doctor and Clara accidentally wind up in a Russian submarine during the Cold War, and are quick to be suspected of being Western spies. Clara comments that they'd be pretty rubbish spies, seeing as she doesn't even speak Russian...only for all the Russians to look at her, bewildered, because the Tardis' Translator Microbes automatically translate everything anyone says, so from their perspective she just said she didn't speak Russian, in fluent Russian.

On Better Call Saul, the Kettlemans continue to profess their innocence of embezzlement charges, despite the fact that they made no effort to cover their tracks, they made out checks to themselves, and Jimmy actually caught them in possession of a giant bag of stolen money. Eventually Jimmy starts begging them to admit the obvious for the sake of his own sanity.

A Running Gag in the dentist/spy sketch: "There is something going on here!" "No, there isn't!"

And, of course, no one should forget the Dead Pining For the Fjords Parrot Sketch.

Which was once beautifully subverted in a stage version that took full advantage of the sketch's over-familiarity: after building up to the lengthy implausible deniability that forms the sketch's core, the shopkeeper amiably agrees with the customer, and gives him a full refund and a few holiday coupons to compensate.

The Dead Parrot sketch is loosely based on a Car Salesman sketch that Michael Palin had previously done with Graham Chapman in How To Irritate People. And that was based on a Real Life encounter Palin had with a car salesman who "had an excuse for everything" and refused to admit that there was anything wrong with a car, even as it fell apart in front of him.

There's also a sketch in which Graham Chapman insists he can fly while hanging from a very visible wire, and if someone points it out just tries to insult their social class. And the Argument Clinic sketch dips in and out of this (No it doesn't!).

"We would like to apologize for the way in which politicians are represented in this programme. It was never our intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed, political time-servers who are concerned more with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government, [...] Nor indeed do we intend that viewers should consider them as crabby ulcerous little self-seeking vermin with furry legs and an excessive addiction to alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive. We are sorry if this impression has come across."

Leslie Knope of Parks and Recreation denies liking breakfast foods, not wanting to have breakfast with Garry and his family. Even if Leslie wasn't already famous for her love of breakfast foods, Garry notices the waffle decorations on her handbag.

In Game of Thrones, Ramsay Bolton stabs his father through the heart, then calls the Maester in and tells him to send ravens to all their bannermen announcing that Roose was poisoned by his enemies. While standing over the still-warm body and holding the bloody knife.

Basil Fawlty of Fawlty Towers did it quite a bit. At one point, Manuel was semi-conscious in a laundry hamper with one arm sticking out and this exchange occurs:

Bystander: There's someone in there! Basil: No, there isn't. Bystander: Yes, there is, I just saw him moving! Basil: No, you didn't.

Manuel does it too: "I know nothing!"

In the first episode of Homicide: Life on the Street, a man accused of killing a woman with his car just starts repeating "I was drinking" over and over, to the point where it becomes creepy in itself.

This is how Father Ted worked up the courage to kick Bishop Brennan up the backside. It actually works, until Bishop Brennan discovers this gigantic photo of Ted doing it that Dougal had been told to have commissioned.

Part of the Catherine Tate character Lauren Cooper's shtick is denying embarrassing situations (like being blown off by the guy she likes, or being left at the altar by the same) moments after they happened, in front of the people who witnessed them.

Liese: But you were excited! Lauren: But I wasn't though. Liese: But you got up and did a dance, mate! Lauren: Yeah, I was gonna do that anyway.

Played for laughs in Red Dwarf, in the episode "Me^2". Lister breaks into the Rimmers' room to steal Rimmer's diary, whereupon the Cat emerges from a closet, wearing a suitably gaudy and over-the-top outfit, and turning towards the camera and shielding his face from Lister, says:

Cat: Did you see him clearly? Could you spot him in a parade? I don't think so. I could've been anybody.

Happens in various episodes of Strangers with Candy, but most notably in the last one, when contractors deny that the school is being closed and replaced with a strip mall even as they tear down classrooms and build stores, a Cinnabon, etc. Of course, they get away with it since Principal Blackman and the teachers are powerless to do anything.

Paul Merton: The Series had a character doing a monologue explaining how he'd been falsely accused of a murder, but the evidence was so against him that he never had a chance: "Sure, the cops found me standing over the guy with a smoking pistol in my hand — sure, sure. Sure, I had the motive. I had the opportunity. I even remember killing him! But you must believe me, I didn't do it."

Glee, or specifically Sue Sylvester, did this when her leaking of the New Directions set list to the opposing glee clubs.

Principal Figgins: Sue, the directors, both from the Jane Addams Academy and Haverbrook School for the Deaf, have informed me that you gave them the New Directions' set list. Sue: You have no proof. Figgins: The set lists were on Cheerios' letterhead. Sue: I didn't do it. Figgins: They say, "From the desk of Sue Sylvester." Sue: Circumstantial evidence. Figgins: They're written in your handwriting! Sue: Forgeries. Figgins: Sue, there is an Orgy of Evidence stacked against you! Sue: Well, you've clearly made up your mind not to be impartial in this case.

Barney will alternatively be the only one to tell the truth while everyone else uses one blatant lie after another. It later turns out to be a subversion, because he's the only one that had actually seen it, and watches it regularly.

Robin: Plus the show's not half bad, right? Marshal: Totally! Barney: Never seen it. Robin: Have you guys ever watched it? Lilly: Of course! Barney: Never seen it. Robin: Really? What is your favorite segment? Ted: Weather. Barney: Never seen it. Robin: You guys have never seen my show. All: Sorry. Barney: It's what I've been saying.

A straighter example occurs when Barney tells Ted that GNB plans to get the residents of the Arcadian Hotel to move out by filling the place with snakes... then immediately saying "I don't recall saying 'snakes'." when questioned. He keeps mentioning or alluding to them and then denying it. Ted then does the same thing while talking to Zoey when he switches sides on the issue.

After a magician's trick goes horribly wrong in America's Got Talent, he claims it was all part of the illusion—making the audience think about what they're seeing. Apparently seeing the hidden third assistant (he "only had two" assistants) and dropping a cloth, revealing the middle section of an assistant that had been "removed" is all part of the show.

Roger Lodge: How can you possibly, with a straight face mind you, claim that this idiot was sober?

Loni Love: Even Stevie Wonder could see he was drunk!

In an episode of Friends, Phoebe tries to sneak a dog out of Monica's apartment in her handbag, but someone asks why her bag is moving. First she denies that it's moving, then says it's just her knitting. When the dog pokes its head out of the bag, she says, "Yes, I knit this. I'm very good."

On All That whenever a customer would point out a visible mistake Ed made at Good Burger, he would reply, "Ah... no."

A sort of inversion happened on an episode of Danger Man when John Drake was pretending to be a member of a certain organization in order to infiltrate their headquarters. (I don't remember the name of the guy he was pretending to be so I'll say it's "Roger Smith.") In the middle of the episode he's about to be introduced to a man (another name I don't remember, so I'll call him "Peter Jones") who is Roger Smith's oldest friend. Knowing his cover's about to be blown, upon meeting him Drake immediately insists "You're not Peter Jones!"

Saturday Night Live: Martin Short's Amoral Attorney character Nathan Thurm does an alternate version of this: instead of sticking to his guns in the face of insurmountable wrongness, he just switches positions and expects to get away with it ("I know that! Don't you think I know that?").

South of Nowhere opened one time with Ashley trying to sneak out of her girlfriend Spencer's room only to run into Spencer's mother at the bottom of the stairs. Spencer, thinking on her feet, belted out: "Ashley, when did you get here?!"... while standing at the top of said stairs.

Green Wing: This is a rather large part of Dr Alan Statham's character, especially when it comes to his "secret" relationship with Joanna. No, dove, there is no method of checking for broken bones which involves sucking on people's toes.

The Goodies: In "Scoutrageous", Graeme and Bill have been terrorising the country as 'the Lone Scout, Plus One'. When they are finally cornered by Tim and the Salvation Army, Tim orders them to take off their masks. Upon seeing their faces, Tim lets out a shocked "It was you all along!". Graeme and Bill look sheepish and Bill mutters "No". Tim then says "Oh well, that's alright then" and starts to leave.

Pixelface: When Claireparker asks Rex if he's tearing out pictures of apples from a book and eating them again, Rex answers "No!" through a mouthful of paper.

It's obvious from the first episode he's in that Garak has government connections, knowledge of terrorist operations and experience with covert activities, but he insists on denying that he's a spy. Even after Dr Bashir has met the person who recruited him into the Obsidian Order, Garak continues to deny he was ever a member. After the first three years of the show, he does eventually drop the pretence.

Garak: My dear doctor, I am no more a spy than you are a... Bashir: Doctor?

One memorable example happened in "Second Skin", where Garak is tagging along with Sisko and the crew of the Defiant to rescue Kira from Cardassia Prime. When they're intercepted by a Cardassian ship and about to get busted, Garak hails the Gul captaining it, rattles off a complex military code, orders the Gul to turn back, erase his records and not mention this to anyone...and he does. When Sisko mentions he's impressed, what does Garak say?

Garak: Oh, that's just something I heard while hemming some trousers.

On Malcolm in the Middle, Lois pulls out of the Lucky Aide parking lot and immediately gets pulled over for cutting someone off. Having just had an unpleasant encounter with the same officer in the store, she thinks he's simply out to get her, and plans on fighting the ticket she gets. Malcolm later uncovers a security tape showing that Lois did indeed cut someone off. Her response? "The tape is wrong." Of course it turned out later that the guy she cut off had just finished making an illegal U-turn, making it his fault, but Lois didn't know that at the time.

Star Trek: Enterprise. For most of the series the Vulcans repeatedly stick to their assertion that because the Vulcan Science Directorate decreed the concept of time travel as illogical, it's not possible, even when confronted with the rather frankly astonishing amount of evidence that it is! It was best demonstrated in "Future Tense", where T'Pol repeats this assertion when confronted with a human corpse that possesses DNA that indicates that their ancestors was a Vulcan, something impossible both medically and because both species have only been in contact with each for the past 90 years. Furthermore, he was found in a pod with no apparent engines, emits radiation that causes time to loop in the vicinity and is Bigger on the Inside. Despite this, she maintains it's definitely not from the future!

Gestapo chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner's entire strategy of legal defense is to deny everything he's done and everyone who claims that he engaged in war crimes as a liar, even when the prosecution presents him with incontrovertible evidence and multiple witness testimonies to prove it.

There's a moment where Hermann Goering is presented with the document which he sent to SS General Reinhard Heydrich to organize the Holocaust, but he still claims that this doesn't mean that the SS had anything to do with it. The entire courtroom does a double take from the blatant untruth of this statement, and even Goering himself has an Oh, Crap! expression when he realizes what he just said.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, In one episode, Will masquerades as Ashley's father for a parent teacher conference (as she neglected to tell her real father that she switched to a public school rather then a private one). It goes over well at first but Will get attracted to the teacher and tries to flirt with her. The teacher then notices Will's mustache.

On Seinfeld, Elaine is pretending to live in a building so that she can get Chinese food delivered. To that end, she hides out in the janitor's closet to eat her meal. On one occasion, when she comes out of the room, she runs into the superintendent, who demands to know why she was in there. After a few seconds of incoherent babbling while she tries to come up with a decent excuse, Elaine proceeds to look her straight in the eye and declare, "I wasn't in there".

TruTv's short-lived Caught Red Handed involves this trope as it's main theme. This show is an reenactments of shoplifting crimes where it shows the daily life of Loss Prevention Agents capturing shoplifters in which most times the shoplifters gives the most ridiculous excuses in the show. Notable mentions are:

One shoplifter tries to get away with 20 packs of jeans, exit through the fire escape door and out through the fence. His excuse? He forgot to buy them and never see the sign that says 'fire escape door'.

Two shoplifters who impersonate themselves as a handicapped in a wheelchair and a nurse pushing it for him tries to steal merchandise. However Loss Prevention Agents catches on and only manages to capture the fake handicap while the 'nurse' manages to escape. The 'handicap' keeps insisting to let him go since he's handicap and claims that the reason he runs away by foot because he was chased by them.

Agent: Either Jesus manages to heal you or you're not disabled.

One of the most ridiculous excuses is a shoplifter by the name John who steals a huge hardware item, rushes out through the front door and tries to enter the cab without paying. Luckily, Loss Prevention Agents manage to catch him in time. John's first excuse is that he's late for his flight at JFK Airport so he decides to put the stolen item in the cab and pays for it later. However once the agents doesn't buy his excuse, John's excuses becomes more ridiculous even mentioning that he's late for his train at JFK Airport. But the best part is his last excuse:

John: Okay guys! Here's the truth! I'm actually from the Loss Prevention and I was here to catch you guys. Trying to catch you napping!

Agent: I can't stand his BS anymore...

And speaking of TruTv, the show World's Dumbest... once featured the "Duct Tape Bandit," Who wrapped his face in duct tape as a makeshift mask. Even after having all of the duct tape pulled off his face (which must've hurt like hell), his line to the camera is, "Do I look like a duct tape bandit?" Yes, sir, you do.

In the NCIS episode "Grounded", Tony gets suspicious of a sloppily dressed passenger who doesn't want to go through security again and snatches his hat to search through it. When he finds a stash of marijuana, the man has the nerve to declare, "That's not mine".

Music

"It Wasn't Me" by Shaggy.

The evidence against the cheating character in the song includes marks the other woman left on his shoulder, videotape showing the two in the act of cheating, hearing them having sex, and then walking in on them having sex in three separate rooms of the house. In the bridge before the last chorus, the other singer decides to just admit he cheated and apologize, even calling out Shaggy's excuses as ridiculous ("I've been listening to your reason / It makes no sense at all!").

Interestingly, this has resulted in the concept of the "Shaggy Defense", which goes "It wasn't me", no matter how implausible that statement is. (Originated from press coverage of the 2008 trial of R. Kelly, and has since spread to legal circles because there wasn't a simple term for such a defensenote "Alibi" has a much narrower meaning when used in law..)

"That's My Story" by Collin Raye. Similar to the Shaggy song, the singer sticks to his story of spending the night in his hammock, even in the face of his wife pointing out that she took it down a week earlier, then breaks down and apologizes... for having spent the night playing poker with his friends, with no women around, nuh-uh.

Apparently a chronic habit of the girl from verse three of C+C Music Factory's "Things That Make You Go Hmmmm". Either that, or she honestly doesn't know the definition of "virgin".

"Not About You" by Jonathan Coulton. The entire song is a very contradictory attempt to claim that "this one is not about you!" Kind of like an inverse "You're So Vain".

The traditional folk song "Seven Drunken Nights" (Child Ballad #274) concerns a man who stumbles home every night from the pub to find evidence of his wife's infidelities. His wife keeps coming up with even more implausible explanations ('that's not someone's horse, it's a clothes rail'), finally culminating with 'that's not someone else's head on a pillow, it's a baby'. In some versions there are two more after that, including a man's naked butt hanging out of a sheet being a pumpkin and a naked lover fleeing after 3 AM being English.

Interviewer: So that's an... average day for you, then? Boss: No doubt. Interviewer: You chop your balls off and die?Boss: Hell yeah. Interviewer: And I think you said something about sucking your own dick? Boss: Nope. Interviewer: Actually, I'm pretty sure you did. Boss: Naw, that ain't me.

"No Homo", where the things the dudes say get more and more blatantly homosexual as the song continues. They insist they're straight throughout, despite lyrics like...

Jorma: No homo, but I wanna dress up like Dorothy, and buttfuck a dude while he 69s Morrissey!

Fillmore East, June 1971 by Frank Zappa has two tracks, "What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are?" and "Do You Like My New Car?", where some groupies deny being groupies, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Mark: H-HEY! Listen! Hey, listen to me tellin' ya: We are not groupies!Howard: Naw, I never— I never said— Mark:We are not groupies! You better understand that! I told Robert Plant, I told Elton John, I told all those big guys... Howard: Robert Plant?!Mark:We are not groupies!Howie: No, I never— Mark:Roger Daltrey never laid a hand on me! Howard: Yaw... It's obvious to see why... Listen, I never— Jim: Howard... Mark:Tell him! Tell him right now!Second girl: We only like musicians for f-friends, you know? FZ: Real straight arrow, Howie. Mark: Really... just for friends, Howie... Jim: But we still like you FZ: Yeah, we wouldn't mind coming in your bus, but...

Daniel Amos's "I Didn't Build It for Me" (from Doppelgänger), in which a televangelist uses his followers' donations to fund an obscenely lavish headquarters for his ministry. When others call him out on it, he claims that God told him to build it, and that it's really for the whole church to use. And this was based on a Real Life incident.

There's a plaque in the hall My name's on the wall And a statue of my family It wasn't my decision It was all in a vision I didn't build it I never would have built it I really didn't build it for me...

Very common in the WWE, and TNA. What makes it worse, is that their websites tend to side with the Rudo's lies and exaggerations, so a fan who didn't actually watch the event may believe them.

At the first WrestleMania, Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik won the tag titles after Sheik hit one of their opponents in the head with their manager Freddie Blassie's trademark cane behind the referee's back. When questioned about it after the match, not only did Blassie deny that it happened that way, he also denied owning a cane to begin with.

A complicated example: the night after the 2008 Unforgiven, Chris Jericho said that the Unsanctioned Match between himself and Shawn Michaels "never happened", and that therefore Michaels did not defeat him - even as he stood in front of the entire world with his shirt off, baring the various red welts all over his torso that Michaels had whipped onto him with a strap at the conclusion of the match. Of course, what Jericho meant in this context was that, because WWE had (kayfabe) refused to recognize the aforementioned match due to its extreme violence, the Unsanctioned Match had never officiallyhappened.

Abraham's wife Sarah denied laughing when hearing God tell them they would have a son. Not only is God The Omniscient, she was also laughing right in front of one of His angels.

In The Four Gospels, after Jesus' resurrection, the Pharisees bribed the guards at the tomb to say that they were asleep and the disciples stole His body. Quite talented of them to know what was going on while they were sleeping.

Theatre

Played with (albeit in hypothetical situations) in "Picture This" in The Pajama Game where the secretary paints increasingly explicit scenes implying that the supervisor's wife is cheating on him, but after each, telling him that despite all indications to the contrary, he should trust her.

Also played with in the second act of Richard Wagner's Siegfried, where after tasting a few drops of Fafner's blood the titular hero not only can understand the bird's singing, but also hears what Mime thinks instead of what he says, thus immediately seeing through his lies. Thus the audience hears Mime telling Siegfried: "I only want to chop off your head a little."

In Paper Mario, when Mario examines a closet in the final area (Peach's Castle, being held up by Bowser's floating fortress), a Toad that was hiding there will jump out and say "Nothing here but us clothes."

In the fluff of Outpost 2, an university student meets his professor with a hearty greeting and a smile, ignoring the fact that the professor's office is filled with aerogel. And that the student is embedded in the stuff up to his waist and is hanging horizontally in the doorway.

In Baldur's Gate you can undertake a burglary for the thieves' guild. The house's owner wakes up when you tamper with his treasure box (in his bedroom) but since he's half asleep, you convince him that you're "just the cat" and he goes back to sleep. Tamper with it again, and he'll wake up again and realize that he doesn't have a cat - so you tell him you're actually a stray that got in. At no point do you actually act like a cat, and he buys your escalating lies for an absurd amount of time- it takes five conversations until he finally catches on.

This is a favorite tactic among witnesses in Ace Attorney. Somehow it always works two or three times.

In Final Fantasy VI, the bandit leader Gerad repeatedly denies being your old teammate Edgar, despite that he talks like Edgar, looks like Edgar (with dyed hair), and his name is "Edgar" with the letters jumbled up. And your party likely contains Sabin, who would probably recognize his brother even with a proper disguise. On the other hand, the moment he's regained the castle and the bandits have left, he'll act like he never tried to disguise himself to begin with. Turns out he was just trying to fool the bandits, who are apparently just that gullible.

In the Rom Hack Pony Fantasy VI, the scenes are replayed with Trixie taking Celes' place and Celestia as Edgar. Trixie is not fooled at all, between Celesita's constant use of "my dear" to refer to people and the fact that she doesn't even bother hiding the fact that she's an Alicorn, which Trixie points out

Trixie: Just how many alicorns do you think there are?

In one scene in Little Busters!, Kyousuke says something that seems to indicate he has feelings for Riki right after Riki admitted mentally that he likes Kyousuke but denied it outwardly. Riki slowly grows bright red, as Masato points out with glee. Riki claims that he just probably has a cold or something.

In Mass Effect 2, the typical Council response to Shepard's warnings about the Reapers during the first two games, which continues even after Sovereign's attack on the Citadel at the end of the first.

According to the police officer in the intro to The Walking Dead, every criminal he's driven to prison pleads their innocence. One man in particularnote Implied to be Thomas from the comic series, despite having been caught in the act of murdering his wife, was so emphatic that he was practically throwing a tantrum.

In Simon the Sorcerer the white haired old men with robes, pointy hats and mystical staves come up with increasingly ridiculous excuses to try to pass themselves off as simple country bumpkins. The only way to get them to admit that they are wizards is to point out to them that the player's cursor identifies them as such.

During the summer of 2014, this happened all over the forums for League of Legends. The Tribunal, the usual player-run system of banning, had to be taken down for extended maintenance. In its place, the Player Behavior team rolled out a series of new disciplinary systems that could escalate particularly toxic players to high-level bans very quickly, instead of the several months that the old Tribunal would take to permanently ban a seriously toxic player. The old Tribunal included Reform Cards, logs of the toxic behavior that got a person banned, but since the Tribunal was down they weren't available. In the interest of transparency, Lyte, the head of the Player Behavior team, offered to provide chat logs to any banned player who requested them, publicly on the game's forums if so desired. This resulted in dozens of cases where complete psychopaths would claim that they were banned in error and that they were victims of a system gone haywire, only for Lyte to post chat logs that would make Marshall Mathers circa 2003 blush. Immortalized in this Penny Arcade strip.

The Qunari engage in this occasionally, being experts in willful ignorance. If anyone mentions Qunari soldiers who happen to have lady-parts and identify as women for example, the Qunari will claim that said soldiers are men. Because all Qunari soldiers are men. Likewise, if a mage somehow gains the Qunari's respect/friendship, the Qunari will deny that the mage is a mage, even if said mage is shooting lightning from their hands at that moment. Admitting that the person is a mage would mean trying to kill them/chain them up like animals since all mages are considered dangerous chaotic things according to the Qun. Fortunately, their new buddy is most certainly not a mage, fireballs and lightning bolts notwithstanding.

Dragon Age: Inquisition: One of Bull's Chargers is an elven apostate called Dalish who insists she's an archer, since apostates are hunted down and killed. Nevermind that the Inquisition already has multiple apostates, possibly an entire organization of them if player sided with the mages, and may well be led by an apostate if the player chose to be a mage themselves.

Bull: You carry a staff, Dalish. Dalish: It's a bow. Krem: A bow with a giant glowing crystal at the tip? Dalish: Yes. It's for aiming. Old elven trick; you wouldn't understand. [...] Krem: We've got archers for range, Cutter for flanking, Dalish for mamore archers...

During Jin's story in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, Hazama shows up and tries to knife Makoto bald-faced; when Jin asks Hazama what he thought he was doing, Hazama said he was "educating a subordinate, like any commanding officer should do". Jin refuses to buy it.

"Educating? That blow was clearly made with the intent to kill. In the Intelligence Division, executions are now considered educational?!"

During Makoto's story, Hazama finds Makoto and Tsubaki and talks to the latter about Jin, eventually bringing up that Major Kisaragi's here because Ragna the Bloodedge is. He advises that Tsubaki go down before the boys meet, and that since combat wasn't his forte, he'd sit this one out. Makoto refused to buy that last bit, and told Tsubaki to go ahead while she settles personal business.

Tsubaki: So be it. Makoto, do you want to come with me? I'll feel a lot safer knowing you're by my side. Makoto: Hell yeah! But there's something I need to ask Hazama first. You go on; I'll be right behind you.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain: Huey Emmerich suffers this to an extreme in this game. Even when faced with indisputable evidence that he sold Big Boss and his men out to Skull Face and locked Strangelove up in the Mammal Pod to suffocate, Huey continues to adamantly insist that he thought the nuclear inspection was real and that Strangelove was Driven to Suicide.

In Dwarf Fortress, vampires attempting to evade Dwarven Justice will accuse other citizens at random of their own crimes. The game doesn't really have a way to check for how plausible the accusation is, occasionally resulting in vampires unwittingly outing themselves to oblivious players by accusing a dwarf who couldn't possibly be a vampire, such as one of the starting seven. This is still better than older versions, where they'd often accuse babies and livestock.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney  Dual Destinies gives us an inversion. That is to say, Hugh O'Conner is trying to affirm an allegation against him in a ludicrous and unbelievable way, claiming that his alibi is false because he had a body double. Suuuuuure.

When Detective McQueen pays a return visit to the shady shop owner Mr Wang, he denies being Mr Wang, and when challenged to say who he is instead, claims to be Detective McQueen.

After accidentally setting the Don's mansion on fire, McQueen not only denies that he did, but that it's happened at all, even while he's standing immediately outside the burning building trying to persuade someone that it would be a good idea to leave before they catch fire too.

This is one of Haley's character traits. As usual, it's all justified by the universal handwave of RPG-Mechanics Verse. As any D&D player will tell you, get your Bluff skill high enough and you can make anything stick.

In one strip she denies having stolen a healing potion from Belkar, even though she is standing there holding the empty bottle. He falls for it.

Shortly afterward she is sent to scout a room alone. When the others arrive they find that a statue is missing the gems it had for eyes, two goblins have been killed (with Haley's trademark green arrows), the lock of a treasure chest has been picked (and has one of her hairs snagged on it), and Haley now possesses a huge sack of treasure labeled "Haley's Loot". Needless to say, she claims everything was this way when she got here, and that the bag contains "Feminine products."

In one of the prequel books she awakens a guard while stealing a large diamond. She is able to convince him that he is still asleep and that she is just a rather Freudian dream.

One strip emphasizes this by having Haley take a potion that gives her a large bonus to her bluff skill. She manages to convince a series of guards that "you don't see or hear us", "you don't work here anymore", and "you're actually a yellow-footed rock wallaby". She even convinces Elan that Roy respects his opinions!

And then there's the Knights and Knaves puzzle, where one guy cannot speak the truth. So when Haley solves the problem by shooting one of them (who happens to be the truthful one), the liar says "She did not just shoot you, and I totally expected it!".

Gary:(to Yuki) YOUR DAD IS TAKERU "TENTACLE KING" OYAMA?! THE PREMIER TENTACLE HENTAI ARTIST OF THE DOUJIN WORLD?! (catches Yuki's look) I... I mean... I have no idea who that is.

In a later strip, when Zii nibbles Gary's earlobe:

Zii: D'you just cream your—? Gary: No, but on an unrelated topic, I need to go shower right away.

The current story arc in David Reddick and Jason Williams' Barwench Tales deals with psychotic barwench Sarah, a girl whose attitude to customer service generally involves letting them live afterwards, attempting to deny responsibility for a corpse with a great big wound in his back - while she is holding the bloody knife. The story is currently stalled, but may be picked up here.

Susan tries to claim her hair just spontaneously changed color. Nanase calls her out on it but Susan stands by her claim while acknowledging its ridiculousness. Ironically, while Susan was lying, Nanase's own hair does spontaneously change color at a later date as a side-effect of her magic burnout.

Talk about vampires causes Susan to reflexively use her weapon-summoning spell; when Ellen and Nanase react, Susan flatly denies having summoned the glowing meter-long sword in her hands.

She's actually right. She might be from an alien species, but she was born on Earth.

Seiyuu CRUSH!: Upon his stash of porn being discovered, Kaji loudly declares "These aren't mine!" despite the fact that he'd referred to the box as "my things" just a minute earlier.

In a Breaking Cat Newsstrip, Lupin repeatedly denies breaking open a pen even though he's covered in blue ink.

In another strip, Elvis speaks from inside a paper bag to deny that he is in the bag.

In DM of the Rings during the scene from The Two Towers where the guard at Theoden's hall is telling everyone to leave their weapons, after Gandalf gets to carry in his staff, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli try to justify their own weapons as "walking sticks". Including the bow and arrows.

Critic: And I'm just like, "He's not dead, he's not dead, no no no, he's not dead!" (rocks back and forth, crying and/or screaming) "PRIME!"

Mitadake High. The video tapes. They're not 100% accurate: one is correct, the other is just a random possible color, and there's no knowing which is which. But when there's only one person in game with a hair color mentioned on either tape and they still deny it. Of course, some people only look at one tape, and go after one person with that hair color because they haven't seen anybody else with that color hair. That person is very likely NOT the killer.

In Marik Plays Bloodlines part 6, while freaked out by Mel Gibsonattacking him, Marik admits that he's gay. After calming down, the first thing he says is that Bakura couldn't possibly have heard any of that yelling he was just doing. When it becomes obvious he did, Marik claims it was the ghost. Somehow. Bakura doesn't push it much, but probably only because he knows it's a lost cause.

In "The Butts Family", Applejack insists that her new tree is not, in fact, Rarity's tree which was recently stolen. The name "Rarity" carved into the new tree's trunk? Anyone named Rarity could have carved that.

In "Faith to Faith":

Twilight: Maybe because Rainbow Dash peed in the water supply!Rainbow: Hey, you can't prove that was me! Twilight: You admitted doing it five minutes ago! Rainbow: Yeah, but maybe I can't prove that was me? Twilight: We saw you do it six minutes ago! Rainbow: Fluttershy told me to do it!

In "Pirate Shipping":

Sweetie Belle: You know, the recipe for this [love potion] looks a lot like the same one they use to make alcohol. Scootaloo: <Are you sure this is a good idea?> Apple Bloom: Of course! Why wouldn't it be? Sweetie Belle: You know, you could almost say it's exactly the same as what they use to make alcohol. Scootaloo: <I'm still not sure...> Apple Bloom: Trust me, it will be fine! Sweetie Belle: It even has "alcohol" written in brackets next to it.

In PONY.MOV: When the cops bust in on fluttershy killing rainbow dash with a chainsaw Fluttershy says "this....isn't what it looks like?" At which point the corpse falls in two.

Trish Hidge of the mayor's office once held a press conference in front of a brightly painted truck for the purpose of denying said truck existed. Most questions involved pointing at the truck. She later admitted that the conference was held for the purpose of practicing her denial skills. Then denied having any denial skills.

The City Council declared that the waterfront pier they decided to build in the middle of a barren desert had not been built, and that they would not, of course, have been stupid enough to waste colossal amounts of money on any such thing. The entire town had simply had a mass hallucination that caused them to believe that a waterfront pier was being built, and any citizen who can still see the pier standing uselessly should dismiss it as evidence that they aren't over their hallucination yet. Of course, this is Night Vale, and frankly less believable things have happened.

After Old Woman Josie's death, her daughter finds a poorly-written note supposedly leaving everything to the so-called "angels" that had been taking care of Josie before she died. When asked about it, the angels deny doing so while wiping their brows with hands coated in magic marker.

In Reds, Henry Ford flees the UASR (the USA turned socialist after a revolution in 1932) and joins the Third Reich as Hitler's armament minister. His arrogance and belief the Nazis will win the war leads him to place his marque on everything, including weapons produced by slave labour. When Germany is defeated, Ford tries to deny his role in Nazi atrocities; this goes down about as well as you'd expect, and he receives no mercy from the victorious UASR.

Played for Laughs (naturally) in the episode "The Fat Guy Strangler". Lois absolutely refuses to admit that her long-lost brother Patrick could possibly be a Serial Killer. Even when Brian shows her Patrick's room, which is covered with pictures of him strangling fat people and a dead fat guy on the floor. When she tries to explain away the half-dead fat guy who outright says "Patrick tried to kill me", Brian yells at her and she finally admits it.

When Lois wanted Peter to take out the garbage, he explained on the phone that work kept him late. When she told him that the caller ID said he was calling from the house and she could even see him, Peter moved out of view. He then said "Can you see me now? Now I'm at the office."

When Brian tells Peter that he is a terrible liar, there is a cutaway to Peter in an elevator. Peter farts and then exclaims to the only other person in the elevator "It was you".

Inverted in "Sibling Rivalry" when Peter is caught with his pants down, embracing a bag of fat from Lois' liposuction:

Peter Griffin: It's exactly what it looks like.

In the episode "Tea Peter," Quagmire, taking advantage of the abolishment of the Quahog city government, marries a giraffe, which he impregnates. Even though the resulting Half-Human Hybrid has Quagmire's face and says a variant of his Catch-Phrase ("Giraffity!"), Quagmire promptly denies that the baby is his.

In one episode, Peter sneaks out of the house and tries to pull The Tape Knew You Would Say That with Lois to avoid her finding out that he's gone. Eventually the tape says "If you haven't figured out this is a recording yet, please flip the tape over to Side 2".

Bender tries this a lot. When he gets caught by mall security trying to sneak stuff out under his sweater (also stolen):

[cans of oil spill onto the floor; every security camera focuses on him and the police arrive]Bender: Now officers... [more cans hit the floor]Bender: I know this looks bad... [more cans]Bender: I'm sure there's a very... [even more cans]Bender: I said... [still more cans]Bender: There's a very... [and more cans]Bender:...reasonable... [one final clatter]Bender: ...explanation.

In "Love and Rocket", Bender is out on a date with the Planet Express ship when he turns to look at a sexy fembot. The ship calls him out on it and Bender immediately says he's not, while his eyes are fully extended.

In "Whacking Day", after Bart gets expelled from Springfield Elementary and is subsequently kicked out of some alternative schools, Marge decides to home-school him. As she's setting up a classroom in the garage, Bart throws a paper airplane that gets lodged in her trademark beehive hairdo. He promptly claims "I didn't do it" even though he's the only other person there.

One of the recurring mafia characters is Johnny Tightlips, who denies pretty much everything; at one point he's shot and even resists his fellow mafioso's attempt to get him medical aid (which may have been inspired by Frank Gusenberg).

Fat Tony: Did you have a nice flight, Johnny Tightlips? Johnny Tightlips: I ain't sayin' nothin'. Fat Tony: I understand. So how is your mother? Johnny Tightlips: Ooey, who says I have a mother?

Lampshaded in "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish." Homer tells Bart that one of the three most important sentences in life is "It was like that when I got here." When Bart accidentally breaks a glass of aftershave and makes Homer angry, Bart says "It was like that when I got here!" making Homer proud.

In "Bart's Girlfriend", Jessica Lovejoy steals money from the church collection plate and manipulates Bart into taking the fall. Lisa gets frustrated at this and rats her out, leading to the entire church congregation going to Jessica's room and finding the stolen money under her mattress. Reverend Lovejoy still tries to blame Bart, claiming that he somehow transplanted his bedroom into the Lovejoy household, at which point Jessica finally confesses (while admitting that it was just a stunt to get her father's attention).

Master Shake is powered by this. Caught red-handed, caught on tape, he will deny it all. Poorly. If he does admit it, he will lie about his motivation and totally change his story. He will frame other people ahead of time, convincing others that they did something he has not even done yet. Usually Meatwad.

Frylock in "Super Birthday Snake." Shake, Meatwad, and Carl all return as zombies after Frylock killed them. When they call him out on it, he repeatedly insists that he didn't kill them, even though they all know he did and they are standing right in front of him as zombies. The "Yes, you did," "No, I didn't," argument goes on for about a minute solid, with everyone's tones changing from scared denial/undead moaning to mild annoyance. For your amusement, seen here.

Randy Marsh has had a few of these. Probably the most ridiculous was in "My Future Self 'n' Me" when trying to convince Stan that his "future self" is real:

Stan: Well, if he's really my future self, then I can cut my hand off, and his should disappear! (chop) Randy: Look over there! (chops off "future self"'s hand) See! His disappeared too! Stan: That's funny, I was faking. Randy: (picks up severed hand and holds it up to "future self") It was fake in the future too!

In the very first episode, Cartman fervently denies that he was abducted and experimented on by aliens, up to this point:

Stan: Cartman, there's an 80-foot satellite dish sticking out of your ass! Cartman:(with an 80-foot satellite dish sticking out of his ass) Sure you guys, whatever!

Mr. Garrison in the early seasons was a closet homosexual, but when he was questioned about it, he would always deny it. Even when Mr. Garrison went on to write a romance novel, he wound up making it a homoerotic book while claiming it was something all women wanted to see. It wasn't until Mr. Garrison confronted his fears that he finally came out of the closet and admitted he was gay... after a bit more denying, such as insisting when he was watching the men's swim teams, he was only beating off to the chicks, which Garrison's Gay Self reminded him were not there.

In "200" the class takes a visit to a fudge factory, and they find Tom Cruise packing fudge into boxes.

Butters: Hey Stan! Isn't that Tom Cruise!? Stan: Huh?...Oh wow, it is! Hey guys, check it out! Tom Cruise is a fudge packer! Tom Cruise: What did you call me!? Cartman: Hey, that is Tom Cruise! Butters: How come you're packing fudge, Mr. Cruise? Tom Cruise: I'm not a fudge packer! Kyle: Dude, you don't have to be ashamed or anything. Tom Cruise: But I'm not a fudge packer! Stan: Then why are you packing fudge? Tom Cruise: I'm not! I'm a very busy actor! I'm just here trying to get away for the weekend and do some fly-fishing! Stan: Dude, you are in fudge factory packing fudge. Tom Cruise: Oh that's it, I will sue you! Stan: For what!? Tom Cruise: You can't just call someone a fudge packer and get away with it! Mr. Garrison: Hey, is that fudge packer Tom Cruise!?

Used all the time on El Tigre. In one episode, when his father asks what he's up to, Manny replies "Nothing! Uh, helping the poor!", which satisfies his dad until he actually talks to "the poor," who haven't seen Manny today.

On Squidbillies, Early's father lives and breathes this trope. Faced with the fact that he robbed the same bank 17 times in one day, he will interject "Allegedly!" and launch into a pointless rant. Then he will say something that confirms his action start the same process again. Sometimes he will not even wait for someone to call him out on his "confession" before throwing out "Allegedly!" again.

The Fairly OddParents!: When Timmy creates a new radio persona known as "Double-T in the Morning", Vicky starts looking for him without knowing it's Timmy. When she finds Timmy in the radio station, Timmy says he's not Double-T, despite the flashing neon sign right above his head.

Rainbow Dash: Uh, what's with the croquet mallet? Rarity: (with the mallet in her mouth) What croquet mallet?

In "Somepony to Watch Over Me", Applejack finds Scootaloo hiding in Apple Bloom's wardrobe. Scootaloo tries to deny it even though Applejack is looking right at her.

Applejack: Scootaloo?! Scootaloo: Ah, um... n-no.

At his trial for a bank robbery, Darkwing Duck villain Tuskernini claims his innocence. Confronted by Darkwing with security footage, five hundred eye witnesses positively identifying him and his own signed confession, he claims the evidence is flimsy. Then he shifts gears and claims Darkwing framed him for the crime.

In the first episode of House of Mouse, all the video reels go missing. Who's responsible? Certainly not Pete, because...

Pete:{placing his hands over his own handprints} My fingerprints here mean nothing. {indicates Horace, who is tied up in a rope that is labeled "Property of Pete"} This isn't my rope, and I don't even know Horace Horsecollar! Horace: Hey, Pete! Pete: Oh, hi, Horace.

In Moral Orel, not realizing that Principal Fakey is cheating on his wife, Orel tells Principal Fakey he's an authority figure, so he must never be wrong. This cures Fakey of his guilt and allows him to blissfully continue to cheat on his wife. He discovers he has gonorrhea, which he got from Nurse Bendy (she confirms she has it too). He says "I've been as faithful as ever, she must be cheating on me!" . . . as he's having sex with Bendy.

The Looney Tunes Show: In "Gossamer is Awesomer", Daffy drives through a papier-mâché statue of Gossamer in his parade float, then immediately announces "Winnie Yang did that!".

In one episode, Mr. Cat says he would never hurt Quack Quack... while chasing him with a giant mallet.

In another episode, Kaeloo and Stumpy both set up market stalls. Kaeloo's is full of fresh apples, and Stumpy's is full of rotten ones. Later, Kaeloo finds all her apples stolen. Stumpy says he swears he didn't steal them, even though the fresh apples are in plain view at his stand.

Then there's this line from Kaeloo: "I don't talk with a lithp, Mithter Cat!"

Clyde: Two big stinkers? You don't think it was the guys that we told to come here, do you? Lincoln: No way, Clyde. There's plenty of big stinkers in our neighborhood. Clyde: True. Lana: I'll never shake the sound of their big, dumb laughs! Clyde: Wait, didn't those guys have big, dumb laughs? Lincoln: Clyde, plenty of people have big dumb, laughs. Clyde: True. Lola: And I'll never forget those creepy, baby-faced masks! Clyde: Wait, didn't those guys—? Lincoln:Okay, Clyde, it was them!

Community

Tropes HQ

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy